Pendent audio player

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides an audio player wearable around the neck which comprises vertical direction recognition sensor  2  for recognizing hanging state wherein a casing  10  is hung from the neck using a neck strap  11  and holding state wherein the casing  10  is turned upside down from said hanging state and is held in the hand, and a control circuit  3  for change-over-controlling the presentation state of the display  8  in accordance with the recognition result obtained by the vertical direction recognition sensor  2 . This can avoid the problem when the display is turned upside down between the hanging state and the holding state of the casing.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to audio players wherein the usercan listen to music with the player hung from the neck using a neckstrap.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] In recent years already in wide use have been portable audioplayers having incorporated therein a memory storing audio data, andwherein the audio data is read from the memory to reproduce the data asvoice. The user manipulates the audio player of the type described toperform reproduction operation with the player hung from the neck usinga neck strap, enabling the user to enjoy listening to music whilewalking. Further the audio player of the type described comprises acasing having a display arranged on its front surface. The user canperform the manipulation for various reproduction operations whilemonitoring the display.

[0003] With the audio player wearable around the neck described, thepresentation of the display arranged on the surface of the casing isshown as in a normal vertical direction when the user holds the playerin his hand to perform key manipulation. After the start of thereproduction operation, when the user listens to music with the playerhung up, the casing is turned upside down, so that the presentation ofthe display is viewed as vertically reversed by the person who is facingthe user. Particularly, since the audio player wearable around the neckis worn for fashion sense, it is not preferable that the presentation ofthe display is shown as vertically reversed when the player is viewed bythe person facing the user.

[0004] An object of the present invention is to provide an audio playerwearable around the neck which is adapted to avoid the problem when thedisplay is turned upside down between the hanging state and the holdingstate of the casing.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

[0005] The present invention provides an audio player wearable aroundthe neck which comprises a casing 10 to be hung from the neck using aneck strap 11, and having arranged thereon an audio reproduction circuit5 for reproducing an audio signal and a display 8 for showinginformation on the audio reproduction. The audio player comprises staterecognition means for recognizing hanging state wherein the casing 10 ishung from the neck using the neck strap 11 and holding state wherein thecasing 10 is held in the user's hand with the casing turned upside downfrom the hanging state, and control means for change-over-controllingthe presentation state of the display 8 in response to the recognitionresult obtained by the state recognizing means. Stated specifically, thestate recognition means comprises a vertical direction recognitionsensor 2 for recognizing a vertical direction of the casing 10 based onthe gravity acting direction.

[0006] Stated specifically, when the presentation of the display 8 ischanged over in response to the recognition result obtained by the staterecognizing means, it is effective to turn upside down the presentationof the display 8 between the hanging state and the holding state.Accordingly, in the holding state the user can view the presentation ofthe display 8 normally, while in the hanging state the person who isfacing the user can view the display 8 normally. In the holding statethe display 8 has shown the presentation in accordance with the user'smanipulation, while in the hanging state the display 8 has shown thepresentation in accordance with the reproduced sound.

[0007] Furthermore according to another specific construction, thedisplay 8 has a backlight 9, and the backlight 9 is turned off in thehanging state while turned on in the holding state. This enables theuser to view the presentation of the display 8 in the holding state.However, in the hanging state the person who is facing the user cannotview the presentation of the display 8 since the backlight 9 is turnedoff.

[0008] Stated more specifically, the presentation operation of thedisplay 8 is started with the change-over from the hanging state to theholding state while the presentation operation of the display 8 isceased with the change-over from the holding state to the hanging state.Thus the user can view the presentation of the display 8 in the holdingstate while in the hanging state the person who is facing the usercannot view the presentation of the display 8 since the presentationoperation of the display 8 is automatically ceased.

[0009] As described above, the present invention provides an audioplayer wearable around the neck which is adapted to avoid the problemwhen the display is turned upside down since the presentation of thedisplay is changed over between the hanging state and the holding stateof the casing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a device structure of an audioplayer wearable around the neck embodying the present invention;

[0011]FIG. 2 is a front view showing a casing and a part of interiorstructure of the audio player wearable around the neck;

[0012]FIG. 3 is an illustration showing hanging state of the audioplayer wearable around the neck and the presentation of a display;

[0013]FIG. 4 is an illustration showing holding state of the hangingaudio player and the presentation of the display;

[0014]FIG. 5 is an illustration showing another structure of the audioplayer wearable around the neck embodying the present invention.

BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0015] Embodiments of the invention will be described below in detailwith reference to the drawings. An audio player embodying the presentinvention comprises a casing 10 which is adapted to hang from the neckusing a neck strap 11 as shown in FIG. 2. The casing 10 is provided witha manipulation key 1 and a display 8.

[0016] With reference to FIG. 1, incorporated inside the casing 10 are amemory 4 storing audio data, an audio reproduction circuit 5 for givingdecoding processing to the audio data read out from the memory 4 andreproducing an audio signal, an amplifier 6 for amplifying thereproduced audio signal and feeding the signal to an output terminal 7,a backlight 9 for illuminating a screen of the display 8, controlcircuit 3 for controlling read-out of the audio data from the memory 4,reproduction operation of the audio reproduction circuit 5, presentationoperation of the display 8, and turning on/off the backlight 9.

[0017] Furthermore, incorporated in the casing 10 is a verticaldirection recognition sensor 2 wherein contacts are changed overdepending on the gravity acting direction as schematically shown in FIG.2. A vertical direction recognition signal generated by the verticaldirection recognition sensor 2 is fed to the control circuit 3, changingover the presentation operation of the display 8.

[0018] Stated specifically, when the casing 10 is hung from the user'sneck using the neck strap 11, the direction of the presentation of thedisplay 8 is set so that a person who is facing the user can viewnormally the presentation of the display 8, as shown in FIG. 3. Thedisplay 8 has shown a character corresponding to a reproduced sound, forexample, or a preliminary prepared image. On the other hand, when theuser holds the casing 10 in his hand with the casing turned upside down,the presentation of the display 8 is vertically reversed so that theuser can view normally the presentation of the display 8, as shown inFIG. 4. At this moment the display 8 has shown the presentation inresponse to the user's manipulation.

[0019] Accordingly, in the holding state shown in FIG. 4 the user canmanipulate the manipulation key 1 referring to the presentation of thedisplay 8, while in the hanging state shown in FIG. 3 the person who isfacing the user can view the presentation of the display 8 withoutsensing a discomfort. This can give more sophisticated fashion sense tothe audio player wearable around the neck.

[0020] The device of the present invention is not limited to theforegoing embodiments in construction but can be modified variouslywithin the technical scope set forth in the appended claims. Forexample, also usable as a vertical direction recognition sensor 2 is theone wherein the contacts are open by the gravity of the casing 10 in thehanging state while the contacts are closed by the force of a spring inthe holding state, as schematically shown in FIG. 5. Furthermore, it ispossible to recognize the vertical direction of the casing 10 by thepresence of a detected signal to be generated in detecting that thecasing 10 is held in the hand based on the variations of capacitance.

[0021] In order to change over the presentation of the display 8 inresponse to the recognition result of the vertical direction recognitionsensor 2, the backlight 9 is turned off in the hanging state while thebacklight 9 is turned on in the holding state, or the presentationoperation of the display 8 is started with change-over from the hangingstate to the holding state while the presentation operation of thedisplay 8 is ceased with change-over from the holding state to thehanging state.

1. An audio player wearable around the neck comprising a casing 10 to behung from the neck using a neck strap 11, and having arranged thereon anaudio reproduction circuit 5 for reproducing an audio signal and adisplay 8 for showing information on the audio reproduction, the audioplayer being characterized in that the player comprises staterecognition means for recognizing hanging state wherein the casing 10 ishung from the neck using the neck strap 11 and holding state wherein thecasing 10 is held in the user's hand with the casing turned upside downfrom the hanging state, and control means for change-over-controllingthe presentation state of the display 8 in response to the recognitionresult obtained by the state recognizing means.
 2. An audio playerwearable around the neck according to claim 1 wherein the staterecognition means comprises a vertical direction recognition sensor 2for recognizing a vertical direction of the casing 10 based on thegravity acting direction.
 3. An audio player wearable around the neckaccording to claims 1 or 2 wherein the presentation of the display 8 isturned upside down between the hanging state and the holding state. 4.An audio player wearable around the neck according to claim 3 whereinthe control means has shown on the display 8 the presentation inresponse to the manipulation in the holding state while the controlmeans has shown on the display 8 the presentation in response to thereproduced sound.
 5. An audio player wearable around the neck accordingto claim 1 or 2 wherein the display 8 comprises a backlight 9, and thecontrol means turns off the backlight 9 in the hanging state whileturned on in the holding state.
 6. An audio player wearable around theneck according to claims 1 or 2 wherein the control means starts thepresentation operation of the display 8 with the change-over from thehanging state to the holding state while the control means ceases thepresentation operation of the display 8 with the change-over from theholding state to the hanging state.